Time Is Running Out
by hereisthekey
Summary: After Spencer's relationship with Toby failed yet again, she quickly develops an attraction to the new boy at school who arrived just in time for the Halloween party at Noel Kahn's cabin. Not wanting to watch Spencer sit around and mope, Hanna and Emily develop a plan to hook her up. But will Peter Hastings allow that? Wait and see.
1. Time Is Running Out

Was this some sort of sick joke? Would Hanna really play with Spencer's head like that? The whole thought of it was sickening.

Spencer paced back and forth across her bedroom floor trying to grasp the reality of what Hanna had just informed her.

"Spencer— stop! You're starting to freak me out. Say something, damn it!" Hanna spoke, breaking the silence as she sat at the edge of Spencer's bed, waving her arms. Spencer stopped outside of her bedroom window, and then turned to look back at Hanna. She took a deep breath, waited a few seconds, and then finally exhaled as her eyes grew wide.

"You… you're dead serious, Hanna? This isn't a joke. This isn't cool. Don't do this, come on." Spencer responded as she finally took her seat on the daybed next to the window as she tried to calm herself down. She was in complete disbelief.

Earlier that day.

October 23rd read the calendar. A part of Spencer was happy with her favorite holiday, Halloween, rapidly approaching but as she looked at the invitation tightly gripped in between her fingers**, **she was slightly annoyed and upset. Toby, her now ex-boyfriend, had skipped town once again but Spencer didn't care this time. After a one year relationship of them being on and off, she was finally fed up and tired of being mistreated. What kind of man would just abandon their girlfriend after taking her virginity — something Spencer held onto for as long as she possibly could. To Spencer sex wasn't just sex; it was a way of expressing how much you truly love and care for the other person and Toby had deprived her of that.

The invitation read: "Noel Kahn invites you to the party of a life time. Date required." Spencer crumpled up the invitation and threw it across the room and missed a shot at the garbage can placed beside her desktop where all of her homework lay. All of her overdue homework. After all the problems she and Toby faced these past few months, Spencer had gotten behind in almost all of her classes except for one: study hall, a class you're not even required to be in.

"Ugh!" Spencer groaned, as she pushed herself off her bed towards the garbage can to pick up the invitation. Suddenly, her phone buzzed and then beeped. She bent over, picked up the invitation, stood up straight, and then pulled the cell phone out of her back pocket. It was Emily.

The text read: "Don't stop believing." Spencer let out a soft laugh, throwing the invitation at the garbage can where she missed. Again. Two tries and two misses… Spencer didn't bother to pick up the invitation again.

11:19PM—Lunch time.

"Spencer, ya gotta let it go. Please," Hanna begged, lacing her fingers and leaning against the circle table outside of the school. Lunch time was the girls' favorite time of day, especially during the school week. It was thirty minutes daily for the girls to just kick back and forget about what they were being taught in their classes, and focus on their real life problems. Spencer picked up her fork and cut a piece off of her baked potato that was covered with broccoli and cheese. Barely getting the fork to her mouth, Spencer dropped it on the ground as she stared at the guy who just walked out onto the Rosewood High patio. The girls looked at Spencer with a blank stare before turning their attention towards the guy.

"Earth to Spencer!" Hanna shouted, startling Spencer.

"I'm sorry, what?" Spencer asked realizing that Hanna had called her name quite a few times. But Spencer couldn't pay attention; she was too focused on this guy.

"You dropped this," the guy said as he appeared at their table, handing Spencer back her fork.

"Oh, uh. Thank you. I'm sorry, I saw a … cat." Spencer lied, feeling completely stupid. Without a doubt, she had every reason to.

Hanna, as usual, was unsure of what exactly was going on and become suddenly uncomfortable. Wanting to get rid of the awkwardness that quickly appeared the minute Spencer dropped her fork, Hanna spoke up.

"Hello, Caleb," Hanna said. And with that, Spencer quickly grabbed her fork from Caleb's hand and glared in Hanna's direction. Hanna knew him? How? "Thank you for Spencer's fork. Sorry for all of the awkwardness. Spencer's been going through quite a bit lately." Spencer glared in Hanna's direction.

Caleb let out a soft laugh, making Spencer's insides melt. He was beautiful. "I don't wanna be rude or anything," he began, "but I really gotta get going. Got some personal things to do."

As Caleb walked away, Spencer's eyes zeroed in on Hanna. The smartest girl in school suddenly felt extremely stupid. Personal reasons? Yeah, right. Caleb clearly thought they, well she, was an idiot.

"You know him." Spencer asked rhetorically. But considering the person she was talking to, Hanna couldn't take the hint.

"Yeah, that's Caleb Rivers. He's in my English class. Why? Do you know him?" she responded.

"…I, uh…" Spencer was at a loss for words. She couldn't come right out and say that he was the guy she nearly spilt her coffee on this morning. What was her problem? She was such a klutz these days.

Hanna's face lit up with amusement. "Wait a second—you like him! Oh my gosh, Spencer! This is great! He's not even in your league!"

Emily and Aria glanced at each other, and back at Hanna letting out a short laugh. "Hanna," Emily said, "don't you mean that she's not in his league?"

"Oh, yeah, right. Like, you could do so much better than him. He's …weird." Hanna said.

4:27 PM—Later that day.

"Emily, do you understand what this means? Spencer can finally move on from Toby! We have to make this happen, please. Whatever it takes. I don't know how many more 'I miss Toby's' and 'I'm not going to Noel's party because I don't have a date' I can take! Please, Em. For Spencer," Hanna begged standing on the other side of the clothing rack.

Emily continued shifting through the clothes, trying to find something cute for her date with Paige that night. It was something Emily could never speak out loud about, but there just wasn't something right about her and Paige. And all of this Spencer and Toby talk made Emily sick. But the girls were almost required to go to Noel's party. However, a part of her would rather skip the party and hang out with Spencer and listen to her complain about how crappy her love life was.

"Sure," Emily finally said. Who was she kidding? This was Hanna she was talking to. There was no way Hanna would let Emily skip out on a Halloween party—especially one at her beloved Noel's house.

Hanna smiled, biting down onto her bottom lip. "All of these clothes suck, let's go somewhere else," she said as she made her way to the other side of the clothing rack to see if leaving was okay with Emily. Emily shrugged and walked with Hanna outside the building.

"Look," Emily said pointing in the direction of the long-haired guy standing outside the local bar and grill.

"Aw, it's like it's fate!" Hanna grinned, making Emily feel a little uneasy. "Excuse me, sir," Hanna said as her and Emily both approached Caleb. Caleb turned away from the 'WANTED' sign to acknowledged Hanna and Emily's presence.

"You know, Hanna, if I keep running into you like this, I'm going to start assuming that you're stalking me. I don't know if you've heard, but the cops here are pretty crazy and are quick to go after a young girl such as yourself."

"Oh, shut up." Hanna laughed, pushing Caleb's shoulder gently. "Anyways, it's good that we ran into you. Got something to ask you, if you don't mind."

Oh my God, Emily thought as she pursed her lips together. She couldn't believe Hanna was actually going to follow through with this. How would Spencer react? Emily shook her head in disbelief.

"What do you think of Spencer?" Hanna asked, her eyes locked with his.

Caleb shrugged, and then a smile quickly appeared on his face. "Spencer? She's cute," he responded.


	2. Almost Paradise

"Absolutely not!" said Peter Hastings, slamming his cup of coffee down onto the island in the kitchen. In most situations, Spencer would have jumped or be shocked, but she knew her father too well at this point and knew he wouldn't allow it. The Halloween party with Caleb was out of the question. Therefore, Spencer wouldn't be able to go.

She slumped her back against the counter, and folded her arms against her chest. She was upset. Her parents allowed her to be with Toby even though he screwed her over time and time again, yet a simple date to a Halloween party wasn't allowed? Spencer rolled her eyes, unfolded her arms, and began to raid the cupboards. There had to be some way to get them to say yes — there was absolutely no way Hanna wouldn't allow her not go to the party, especially at a time like this.

Peter noticed how upset his youngest daughter looked, but there was no way a stubborn man like him — especially being a Hastings — would back down. He knew without a date Spencer wasn't allowed at the party, but Peter simply did not care. "No is final, Spencer. So you can take that disappointing look off your face and go take care of your overdue assignments." And with that Peter cleared his throat and walked out of the room.

Annoyed, Spencer grabbed her bag off the counter and headed towards the stairs leading to her bedroom. As she sat down on her bed she pulled out her books and papers, all crumpled up from being squished underneath her books the past few weeks. But, even with all of her assignments spread out in front of her, Spencer couldn't concentrate. Spencer finally knew that Caleb thought she was cute, but any sort of relationship between them wasn't allowed thanks to her dad.

She sighed, pushing her books and papers out of her way as she lay down on her back with her phone resting on her stomach. She picked it up and texted Hanna: "Looks like it's a no go… sorry, Han." But Spencer's text wouldn't stop Hanna from begging Spencer to go. And, just like that, there were three loud knocks at the door.

Spencer jumped off her bed and headed back down the stairs. As she reached the kitchen door, she moved the curtain out of the way and saw the beautiful blond with an overly dramatic facial expression. "Why, hello Hanna," Spencer mumbled, holding back any snickering. Hanna pushed open the door, and stopped after only taking a few steps in. By doing this, she prevented Spencer from moving out of sight and she was forced to stand between Hanna and the door.

"You're going, Spencer. There's no way I'm letting you get out of this. It's Noel Kahn's party — do you not understand that? Why won't you just go with Caleb? Sure, he's a downgrade from Toby, but he's somebody. Don't back down. Please, I'm begging you. Don't do this to me, Spence." Hanna exclaimed without bothering to stop to catch her breath.

Spencer shook her head, tilting it down at the ground, a smirk plastered on her face. But as she looked up at Hanna, the smirk quickly went away. "Hanna," Spencer said, "it's not my fault that I can't go. It's my dad's. He doesn't approve of Caleb and—" her explanation was cut short.

"How the heck does he not approve of Caleb? He doesn't even know him. Why would you tell your overprotective father anyways?" Hanna asked.

Hanna made a good point. Why did Spencer bother to tell her father about Caleb? She knew he'd never allow it. "I— I don't know, Hanna. But he did a background search…"

The room fell quiet. Hanna's hands were rested firmly at her sides as she gave Spencer a blank stare. Something that Spencer was completely used to.

"A background _check_?" Hanna started cracking up as she stepped away from Spencer, and turned from her as she continued to laugh.

Spencer followed Hanna who was headed towards the living room. Hanna's reaction to the whole situation was _classic_ Hanna. She was the party go-er out of the four girls, especially when the parties were thrown by Noel Kahn. Although Noel was Aria's ex, Hanna always had a special place for him in her heart. But no one, especially Noel Kahn, found them fit for each other. She didn't appeal to him the way Aria did, and he respected their friendship too much to try anything. However, he really enjoyed her company at the parties.

"What kind of person does a background check—on a kid?" Hanna continued, still in shock and slightly entertained over how insane Peter Hastings was.

Spencer shrugged. "I don't know. But apparently he has a bad record."

Hanna's eyes widened and her eyebrows rose. "Caleb has a bad record," she said sarcastically. It wasn't a question, but a simple statement. As if the way Caleb dressed and how sketchy he was wasn't obvious enough. "No way," she continued.

Spencer rolled her eyes, letting out a giggle. "But seriously, Han. I can't go. I'm sorry."

"Hold up!" Hanna exclaimed, holding up her hand, cutting Spencer off from her apology. "You go and tell your dad that you want to go to a Halloween party, that requires a date, and your date is Caleb… why? You know from the looks Caleb is a bad boy, so why would you bother?"

Spencer was at a loss for words. It was only times like this that Hanna's intelligence was above average. "I get it, Hanna. You can stop judging me now," she said, shaking her head.

Hanna sat down on the couch, biting in her bottom lip, deep in thought. Every now and then, 'hm' would come from her mouth. "I got it!" Hanna said, jumping up from the couch and headed towards Spencer. "_Lie._"

"Lie?" Spencer repeated.

"Yes, _lie._" Hanna said. "You can just go without his knowledge of a date. We can pick Caleb up and voila!"

But Hanna was missing the point. A date between Caleb and Spencer was never established. Spencer had set her hopes up too high based off a single "she's cute" comment.

"…what if he doesn't enjoy parties? Or doesn't want to go?"

Hanna let out an annoyed groan. "Spencer, what is up with your constant questions? He thinks you're cute. All you have to do is ask him. Don't hide away, Spencer. You need to move on."

Hanna's phone then buzzed. It was a text from Aria. "Aria could ask a friend for you…"

"Hanna." Spencer said, as her eyes glared at Hanna. "No. No. And no. Sorry, that's final."

"C'mon, Spence! Holden won't hurt you. He's cute, innocent, and your dad would _so_ approve. Just this once."

Spencer rubbed her face, and closed her eyes. There was no way she was going to get out of this one. "You owe me. Big time."


	3. The Run In

Aria's eyebrows furrowed. "You got Spencer to agree? Wow, that didn't take much at all," she said, slightly shocked. Holden always sort of had a thing for Spencer, but the girls never took him seriously. Something about him just screamed 'gay', and he wasn't exactly Spencer's type. But the idea of Spencer actually giving him a chance, made Aria question what Spencer could possibly be up to.

Hanna shrugged. "She knows that she has to have a date to go to Noel's party, and her dad is refusing her from going with the one person she wants to go with."

"Toby?" Aria asked. The whole Spencer and Holden date situation was finally beginning to make sense, but why would Spencer's dad refuse Toby going as her date?

Emily sucked her bottom lip as she walked behind the two girls. She had nothing to worry about if Spencer went to the dance with Holden. The dude was clearly gay, at least that's what Emily's gaydar suggested. Besides, Spencer had absolutely no interest in him so the two wouldn't be all over each other all night, had she gone with Toby or Caleb.

"Ha! Toby! Are you crazy, Aria?" Hanna shook her head, laughing. "Caleb Rivers—the dude Spencer likes."

Hearing his name made Emily cringe. Something about Caleb was just off.

As the girls continued their walk through the mall, passing stores without even taking a glimpse, a man's voice appeared, shouting out to them.

"Hi, Noel," Hanna said, blushing, turning back in his direction. Aria rolled her eyes with a smile upon her face. But Emily couldn't care less. Even when Aria and Noel were together, Emily never cared for the guy. Just like with Caleb, something about Noel Kahn was off.

Noel moved closer to the girls, wearing his confident smile. "Well, ladies, what brings you to the mall today? Looking for a sexy costume for my party?"

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather just have us show up nude?" Emily responded, letting out an annoyed sigh.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. You in, Aria?" He joked, winking at her.

"You're disgusting," Aria replied.

No one understood the relationship between Noel and Aria. But it was definitely a playful one. It was the type of relationship most people could only dream of. Nothing between the two was ever something serious. It was all jokes all the time. But, underneath all of that joking, the two had some underlying chemistry, which everyone else was completely oblivious to. Especially the girls in Aria's circle of friends.

"We better be on our way," Hanna said, cutting off any further communication between Aria and Noel. Hanna would never admit it, but she was slightly jealous of the unique bond between Aria and Noel.

"Before you go," Noel spoke up, "who's Spencer coming with?"

"Holden," Hanna responded quickly, turning her back to Noel and lacing her arms with Emily and Aria. "We better get a move on. There's only a few days left before his party, and I want to look hot."

The girls eventually arrived outside of _Halloween Town_, a costume shop inside the mall. The girls separated as they went on their search for a costume, and only met up with each other when they were questioning a costume they had just picked off the shelf.

"Hanna, I have a question," Aria mumbled, putting a hideous costume back onto the shelf.

"What?" Hanna asked, her fingers lingering across the costumes on the bottom shelf. This store usually had the best costumes, but with Halloween only a few more days, it was no surprise that there weren't many options.

Aria cleared her throat. "Um, why is it so important to you that we go to this party?"

Hanna's eyes widened, biting down on her bottom lip. What was she going to say? There were two options: lie or tell the truth. But there was no one Hanna could tell Aria about her feelings for Noel.

"Because it's Halloween, and we need to get Spencer out of the house to take her mind off of Toby," She went the safe route. Some truth, but her response consisted mostly of lies. "Why do you ask?"

Aria shrugged, picking up a Britney Spears costume. There were two costumes for Britney: one from her 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' video and the other was from 'Slave 4 U.' "Hey, Han. Remember this?" Aria said, waving the 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' costume in front of her face. She laughed as Hanna pushed it away.

"That's not funny, Aria," Her voice had a serious tone to it. It wasn't that it wasn't really funny, but Aria had caught Hanna off guard. Her thoughts were still focused on Aria's previous question about Noel's party.

"What do you guys think?" Emily appeared just in time to break the underlying tension between the girls. It was a nurse costume, completely out of the ordinary for Emily's style but she needed something to do to catch the attention of other people.

"Hot!" Aria and Hanna said at the same time, making direct eye contact and giggling.

Emily's soft smile appeared. Lately, she wasn't the same. Although Paige treated Emily like she was a goddess or a queen, things just weren't the same between the two girls and Emily was much to blame for that.

"I should probably just go in my birthday suit since this store hasn't got anything," Hanna sighed. After she lost her weight and gotten her bikini bod, she promised herself that she would always try to wear the hottest clothes. More so, the hottest costumes. But that wasn't happening this year.

Just like Hanna, Aria couldn't find anything interesting to wear either. After giving her costume a second look, Emily was no longer interested in the nurse costume. It just wasn't fit for her.

The girls walked out of the store, starving.

"Emily, is Paige all set to go? Maybe you could have matching outfits or something. Well, not matching but couple-like outfits." Aria suggested.

"Or," Hanna interrupted. "If she already has a costume, you could ask her what she's going as and then you do what Aria had suggested."

Emily forced a laugh. Hanna and Aria were Paily's biggest fans. The girls always pushed Emily and Paige together, but they only did it because they wanted Emily happy.

"Let's not go overboard, okay? Besides, you two are too caught up in mine and Spencer's lives that you haven't even bothered to find dates," Emily reminded them.

"Actually, I do have a date," Aria responded.

"You do?" Emily and Hanna responded with such excitement. Out of four girls, relationships came hardest for Aria. Not because no guys were interested, but because she wasn't really interested in dating. But with Aria's life being so intense at home with her parent's constant bickering, she's forced herself into finding a date so that she could get out of the house and be a carefree teenager for once.

"Yeah, it's Jason," She calmly responded.

Hanna's face scrunched up as if she were disgusted—which she, in fact, was. Ever since Hanna entered high school and met Jason, she's always had a strong dislike for him. He wasn't cocky or arrogant, but just weird. He used to spy on her when she lived next door, but after her parent's split up, they eventually moved away. However, Hanna decided to give Aria the benefit of the doubt. Aria didn't even know Hanna didn't like him. But Emily knew.

As Emily looked over at Hanna after Aria mumbled his name, Hanna shook her head. She didn't want Emily to mention anything.

Emily was confused. What was up with Hanna's obsession in wanting all of the girls happy when she wasn't even happy herself? She had to be up to something.


End file.
